‘But what’s the definition of a Métis?’: New study commissioned by Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin claims Métis Nation of Ontario fabricated narrative of historic Métis community in Sault Ste. Marie; MNO takes issue with ‘deeply offensive’ report

First Peoples Law Report: SOOTODAY.COM – As the Métis Nation of Ontario winds down a conference in Sault Ste. Marie this week celebrating its rights and path towards self-government, a political advocacy group representing 21 First Nations in Robinson Huron Treaty territory has unveiled its latest report — a 33-page study that was produced to disprove the historical existence of a Métis community in the border town. 

The scathing report, entitled The Sault Ste. Marie ‘Metis’ Community and ‘Halfbreed’ Petition — co-authored by academics Daryl Leroux and Celeste Pedri-Spade and commissioned by Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin (RHW) — accuses the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) of misidentifying Anishinaabe descendants of mixed ancestry in order to essentially fabricate the narrative of a historic Métis settlement in Sault Ste. Marie. 

Earlier this year, Chiefs of Ontario, Assembly of First Nations and other First Nations groups joined RHW in its call on Ottawa to stop the implementation of Bill C-53, a piece of legislation that would affirm Métis rights to self-determination and self-government in Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan amid growing concerns inherent rights of First Nations will be compromised by the bill if passed. A handful of political organizations representing Ontario First Nations have passed resolutions calling on the feds to withdraw the bill outright.  

“Stop it. Take MNO out of the formula and go ahead with it,” said RHW Executive Director Earl Commanda, during a telephone interview with SooToday Wednesday. “Amend it to a certain degree that certainly limits what’s being recognized within that modern treaty.

“You’re granting Section 35 rights to non-Métis people, and that’s the essence of our positions with the studies: that these so-called Métis people may have some different connection to our communities, but at the same time, are being recognized under Section 35.” 

One of the key documents in proving the existence of a historical Métis community in the Sault is what’s referred to as the Halfbreed Petition, which was created in 1850 in response to those with mixed ancestry in the Sault area being left out of the Robinson Huron Treaty by the Crown.

While the word ‘halfbreed’ is considered by many to be offensive in nature, it’s being used within a historical context here that reflects the terminology of the day. Pedri-Spade and Leroux conclude that of the 55 heads of families listed as ‘halfbreeds’ in the petition, 62 per cent of them had “identifiable family descendants on treaty paylists.” 

“There are halfbreeds for sure, but a lot of those halfbreeds — and this study points out quite dramatically — were absorbed children and grandchildren of Anishinaabe,” Commanda said. 

RHW says it’s just another way in which MNO research would take terms for people in historical documents such as halfbreed, voyageur and freemen and count those people as Métis, which was explored in another RHW-commissioned report denying the existence of historic Métis communities in Robinson Huron Treaty territory released this past May. 

Sam Manitowabi, senior policy analyst for RHW, says there’s really no “consistent usage” of the word ‘Métis’ in historical documents.  “We want the government to be dealing with the legitimate organizations before they start approving Section 35 holders,” he said. “We don’t deny the existence of Métis. But what’s the definition of a Métis?”

RHW contends that its review of materials regarding the Halfbreed Petition reveals “ample evidence that considerations of Anishinabek’s history and governance are virtually absent from this literature,” according to a media release.

In an email to SooToday Wednesday, MNO Region 4 Councillor Mitch Case called the report on Sault Ste. Marie “ridiculous” and “nothing more than an extension of the political agendas of some who seek to deny the Powley case and Métis existence in Ontario.” 

“This report demonstrates the dangers when academics that have political agendas, and who are not even historians, try to use their credentials to advance a narrative that is disconnected from historic facts and current realities,” Case wrote. “Myself and the MNO are very confident that the 14 judges in Ontario and at the Supreme Court of Canada who reviewed this very evidence in the Powley case were not incorrect.” 

Case said it was “deeply offensive” that RHW hired academics to author a report “making only the argument they were paid to make while ignoring the facts of history.” “Between the date when this was commissioned and the blatant Métis denialism that seeps through the words of this document, I think it is disrespectful to consider the report as anything but a desperate attempt to block the advancement of Métis self-governance in Canada,” he said. 

Bill C-53 is working its way through the House of Commons and has so far passed second reading. In the meantime, the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs is carrying out its own study on the legislation. 

Commanda and RHW dispute assertions made by MNO that the bill deals with internal governance only, as a number of First Nations leaders fear the legislation, if passed, could lead to Métis treaties and land claims being made without consultation with First Nations leadership.  

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree told The Canadian Presslast month that the federal government could enter into treaties with Métis nations after the passage of Bill C-53. 

Commanda said the Métis are already reaping the benefits of those claims through impact benefit agreements between the Métis and mining and forestry companies “that rightfully belongs to the rights holders,” which are the individual First Nations. 

“It goes beyond just governance of an organization,” he said of Bill C-53. “You take a look at what’s happening now with this Section 35 recognition by the province: First Nations are now being told, wrongfully so, that you must consult the Métis if you’re talking about any developments on any Crown land at any time.

“A lot of First Nations are saying that’s hogwash.”

The MNO signed a letter in Sault Ste. Marie in 2021, calling on the federal and provincial governments to develop and implement a lands claim process that would allow the Historic Sault Ste. Marie Métis Council to be compensated for a three-mile tract of land, referred to by the council as river lots, along the St. Marys River in Sault Ste. Marie where it says 54 heads of Métis families once lived.  
James Hopkin

– with files from The Canadian Press